October
Far off a wind blew, and I heardWild echoes of the woods reply--The herald of some royal word,With bannered trumpet, blown on high,Meseemed then passed me by:
Who summoned marvels there to meet,With pomp, upon a cloth of gold;Where berries of the bittersweet,That, splitting, showed the coals they hold,Sowed garnets through the wold:
Where, under tents of maples, seedsOf smooth carnelian, oval red,The spice-bush spangled: where, like beads,The dogwood's rounded rubies--fedWith fire--blazed and bled.
And there I saw amid the routOf months, in richness cavalier,A minnesinger--lips apout;A gypsy face; straight as a spear;A rose stuck in his ear:
Eyes, sparkling like old German wine,All mirth and moonlight; naught to spareOf slender beard, that lent a lineTo his short lip; October there,With chestnut curling hair.
His brown baretta swept its plumeRed through the leaves; his purple hose,Puffed at the thighs, made gleam of gloom;His tawny doublet, slashed with rose,And laced with crimson bows,
Outshone the wahoo's scarlet pride,The haw, in rich vermilion dressed:A dagger dangling at his side,A slim lute, banded to his breast,Whereon his hands were pressed.
I saw him come.... And, lo, to hearThe lilt of his approaching lute,No wonder that the regnant YearBent down her beauty, blushing mute,Her heart beneath his foot.
Words in this poem
- bannered a.
- Decorated with a banner or banners
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- cavalier n.
- A military man serving on horseback; a knight. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
- slashed a.
- Marked or cut with a slash or slashes; deeply gashed; especially, having long, narrow openings, as a sleeve or other part of a garment, to show rich lining or under vesture.
- laced a.
- Fastened with a lace or laces; decorated with narrow strips or braid. See Lace, v. t.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- lilt v. i.
- To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Cf. Norw. lilla, lirla, to sing in a high tone.]
- regnant a.
- Exercising regal authority; reigning; as, a queen regnant. [L. regnans, -antis, p. pr. of regnare to reign: cf. F régnant. See Reign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
October is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, October, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/october.html, id L10912.
Form and metre
October is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABB heardA · replyB · wordA · highB · byB
- 2 ABABB meetA · goldB · bittersweetA · holdB · woldB
- 3 ABABB seedsA · redB · beadsA · fedB · bledB
- 4 ABABB routA · cavalierB · apoutA · spearB · earB
- 5 ABABB wineA · spareB · lineA · thereB · hairB
- 6 ABABB plumeA · hoseB · gloomA · roseB · bowsB
- 7 ABABB prideA · dressedB · sideA · breastB · pressedB
- 8 ABAB- hearA · luteB · yearA · muteB · foot
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Far off a wind blew, and I heard | 8 | ········ |
| Wild echoes of the woods reply-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The herald of some royal word, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With bannered trumpet, blown on high, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Meseemed then passed me by: | 8 | ··˘··˘·· |
| Who summoned marvels there to meet, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With pomp, upon a cloth of gold; | 8 | ········ |
| Where berries of the bittersweet, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That, splitting, showed the coals they hold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sowed garnets through the wold: | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Where, under tents of maples, seeds | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of smooth carnelian, oval red, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| The spice-bush spangled: where, like beads, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The dogwood's rounded rubies--fed | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| With fire--blazed and bled. | 7 | ·/˘·˘·· |
| And there I saw amid the rout | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Of months, in richness cavalier, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A minnesinger--lips apout; | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| A gypsy face; straight as a spear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A rose stuck in his ear: | 6 | ······ |
| Eyes, sparkling like old German wine, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| All mirth and moonlight; naught to spare | 8 | ···/···· |
| Of slender beard, that lent a line | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To his short lip; October there, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| With chestnut curling hair. | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| His brown baretta swept its plume | 8 | ········ |
| Red through the leaves; his purple hose, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Puffed at the thighs, made gleam of gloom; | 8 | ········ |
| His tawny doublet, slashed with rose, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And laced with crimson bows, | 7 | ··˘·/˘· |
| Outshone the wahoo's scarlet pride, | 8 | ˘/·˘//˘· |
| The haw, in rich vermilion dressed: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A dagger dangling at his side, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A slim lute, banded to his breast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whereon his hands were pressed. | 7 | ˘/····˘ |
| I saw him come.... And, lo, to hear | 8 | ········ |
| The lilt of his approaching lute, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| No wonder that the regnant Year | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Bent down her beauty, blushing mute, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Her heart beneath his foot. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.